I am torn between enjoying this work of fiction as a television series or jumping ahead and getting the books. I loved the show - experiencing all the surprises that way...

but the books.. I can find out what to do next!!!

#firstworldproblems

yeah, i pontificated on that a lot over on CU. i'd ALWAYS rather read the source material before watching a tvshow/movie based on it, but this time around, the show is just SOOOOOO fucking good that i kinda want to go into each episode blind, and have my socks knocked off everytime (kinda like EVERY episode of this season after the first 3 or 4)

i think i wanna read the books after watching the correlating season. which will give me some kind of a "fix" til the next season starts.

now all i've gotta do is resist the temptation to jump right into book 2 the second i finish off book 1 this summer . . .

and this was also at CU, and i figured the more i see it the happier i'll be . . .

So I did struggle for a long time with the DO I OR DO I NOT READ THE GAME OF THRONES books… In the end I decided to read the books because I knew I would still love them. I mean, whenever I hear they are making a book or a graphic novel into a movie that I love I am still super excited.. See: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy as example. And since HBO showed Game of Thrones is gonna be top quality, I decided to just get the books and take the plunge.

So, the first book, Game of Thrones, was a great read. It was good to see that the TV series did not really go in strange directions compared to the book, nor did it cut out huge parts of the book or even change major things (in the show). But by reading the book everything came a little more alive… I understood motives a little more, things just seemed to come together better. I would compare it by saying Game of Thrones HBO series was standard definition, but the book was like rewatching it in super High Definition and notcing a whole host of other details.

I devoured the second book and now I just started the third book.

So I would recommend them, absolutely. Especially now you can get the first 4 books in a set for just $20. The fifth book just came out this week too so there's lots of reading ahead.

i think my decision on that one is i'm gonna watch each season, then read that book during the down time. kinda like watching the commentary the next day, yaknow? like what you're saying about the book being in HD. i just got a loaner from a friend, so i'm digging in to book1 soon.

I had a Border's gift card and I saw that they were going out of business, so I ordered the 4 paperback set for $20. I also was waffling on reading the books, but, hey, the books are almost always better, right? Vacation is coming and I needed some books to go, so...

I really enjoyed watching the series. Watched pretty much all 10 episodes straight in a row. Quite addicting. The Imp really grew on me. I want to read the books but after one of my coworkers came in looking tired and tightly gripping the third book saying he hadn't slept because the books were too addicting, well I am not sure if I have the time for that kind of addiction right now.

~5000 pages of wolves and lions and dragons (oh my) in about 6 weeks. Holy shit, that was an epic marathon reading session. My wife is also hooked, she's a book behind.

Now, if only he writes a little quicker than the glacier pace the last two were released in (2 books in 12 years) we'll be alright. For my graphic gift, I give you this world map, because it is never presented in full form in any of the books: